29 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Overbeliefs
The "overbeliefs" of an enlightened man rest on the firmest basis of reality available. This he finds in the scientific picture of the universe of his age. On this foundation of natural knowledge he erects a unique unproven structure of "overbeliefs" concerning his universe, origin, life, hereafter, religion and God. "A man's religion must not give the lie to the world in which he lives. It must be as intelligent as Man". If the overbeliefs of an individual cannot be proven inconsistent with ... 1 
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notesHuman beings see the world through our desires and build a universe to fit with what we want from it.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Science Destroys Magic
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering.
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad ...
1 Science kills gods and scares fairies from the forest.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Superstition is Based on Personal Experience
Almost every major systematic error which has deluded men for thousands of years relied on practical experience. Horoscopes, incantations, oracles, magic, witchcraft, the cures of witch doctors and of medical practitioners before the advent of modern medicine, were all firmly established through the centuries in the eyes of the public by their supposed practical successes. The scientific method was devised precisely for the purpose of elucidating the nature of things under more carefully cont... 1 notes
notesAstrology and other pseudosciences are believed because they appear to work in the real world, it is up to experiment to disprove them.
16 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The State of Mind of Man in Olden Days
We find it hard to picture to ourselves the state of mind of a man of older days who firmly believed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe, and that all the heavenly bodies revolved around it. He could feel beneath his feet the writhings of the damned amid the flames; very likely he had seen with his own eyes and smelt with his own nostrils the sulphurous fumes of Hell escaping from some fissure in the rocks. Looking upwards, he beheld ... the incorruptible firmament, wherein the star... 1 notes
notesWhere he could detect the fires of hell beneath his feet and see the splendor of heaven in the night sky above.
18 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Anecdote Concerning Niels Bohr
A visitor to Niels Bohr's country cottage, noticing a horseshoe hanging on the wall, teasing the eminent scientist about this ancient superstition. 'Can it be true that you, of all people, believe it will bring you luck?'
'Of course not,' replied Bohr, 'but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe it or not.' Folksonomies: superstition anecdote
Folksonomies: superstition anecdote
1 notes
notesAnd a horseshoe he had hanging on a wall and superstition.
05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Santa Claus Can't Live at the North Pole
Here's a riddle for the kids. A man leaves his house for a walk. He walks a mile due south, a mile due east, and a mile due north, and finds he is back where he started. What is the man's name?
Yes, Virginia, his name is Santa Claus. And his house is at the North Pole.
But don't go looking for him there, Virginia. Here's the cold fact: Santa Claus doesn't live at the North Pole.
I knew from a young age that there was something fishy about Santa's address. At the age of five or six I discov...Folksonomies: superstition
Folksonomies: superstition
1 The ice is drifting an so is the pole.
05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Michael Faraday's Advice to School Children
Study science with earnestness -- search into nature -- elicit the truth -- reason on it, and reject all which will not stand the closest investigation. Keep your imagination within bounds, taking heed lest it run away with your judgment. Above all, let me warn you young ones of the danger of being led away by the superstitions which at this day of boasted progress are a disgrace to the age, and which afford astonishing proofs of the vast floods of ignorance overwhelming and desolating the hi... 1 notes
notesFind truth, temper your imagination, don't be led astray by superstitions.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Disproving Santa Claus with a Back of the Napkin Calculation
There is another approach to the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO origins.
This assessment depends on a large number of factors about which we know little,
and a few about which we know literally nothing. I want to make some crude
numerical estimate of the probability that we are frequently visited by
extraterrestrial beings.
Now, there is a range of hypotheses that can be examined in such a way. Let
me give a simple example: Consider the Santa Claus hypothesis, which maintains
that, in a ...At one house a second, it would take Santa three years to visit all the houses in America alone.
15 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
The Benefit of a Fearless Mother
I have from my childhood, in conformity with the precepts of a mother void of all imaginary fear, been in the constant habit of taking toads in my hand, and applying them to my nose and face as it may happen. My motive for doing this very frequently is to inculcate the opinion I have held, since I was told by my mother, that the toad is actually a harmless animal; and to whose manner of life man is certainly under some obligation as its food is chiefly those insects which devour his crops and... 1 notes
notesJoseph Banks' mother would put toads in his hand and apply them to his face to dismiss the superstition that they cause warts and argue that they are actually quite useful in keeping down pests.
03 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Barbarism Complements Miracles
In those parts of the world where learning and science has prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue. 1 notes
notesWhere learning and science have won, miracles have vanished.
